The Rising Sun Inn, on Allentown Road in Franconia, held its Fourth Annual Fourth of July Buffalo Hot Dog Eating Contest Monday afternoon. John Barndt of Telford, who won for the second consecutive year, says he has a few secrets.

“I can’t tell you all of my secrets, but I’ll give you one of them. You’ve got to dip it in the water. It sogs up the roll and it helps a lot.”

Barndt says the hot dogs, made of buffalo meat, are bigger and healthier than regular dogs, and he loves hot dogs so much he will never get tired of them, no matter how many he eats. Rising Sun Chef Fred Duerr is also part-owner of Hillside Farms, where they raise the buffalo. He says they have a couple of animals grazing in a field behind the restaurant.

“We’ve got a buffalo and we just got a new addition of Big Tex, a Texas Longhorn with award-winning horns of 67 inches, so he’s quite an attraction with Buddy the Buffalo. We get people all day coming in to see them. The farm is on Cowpath Road. This is summer camp.”

Duerr says the animals add to the local scenery, which is already beautiful.